The State of Florida has recently invested $1.5 million for a second year to be issued by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Commission) as grants to local governments to remove derelict vessels from public waters of the State! The Commission intends to advertise the new grant funding opportunity in November 2017.

In preparation for the new grant cycle, the Commission has rewritten and modified its derelict vessel investigation procedures, and some of these changes will affect local government partners who investigate derelict vessels. These changes are particularly important for local government partners who have marine units that perform derelict vessel investigations, those local government law enforcement entities whose officers use the Commission’s Statewide Derelict Vessel Database, and local government partners that wish to apply for derelict vessel removal grant funding from the State.

The Commission will host conference calls with local government partners interested in getting this new information during the weeks of September 18, September 25, and October 2. (There will be multiple dates available to participate, and each conference call will provide the same information.) If you are interested in participating, or if you have folks on your team who would like to participate, please have them email Brandy Elliott, the Commission’s legal advisor for the Division of Law Enforcement at brandy.elliott@myfwc.com. Dates and times for the calls will be provided soon.